Well, I received the Zen Styx yesterday. It's probably silly to talk of these so early on, with only about 15 hours of play on them, but. . . .

Wow, these are not in any way or shape "harsh" or "thin." These have wonderful light within them, silky and smooth. They're very very "quick."

I know it will take some time for these to open up and be all that they can be. I hope they develop a bit more heft and bass weight. . . I really hope they do, that's the one area they are at present deficient. Beautiful sound that needs that lower presence.

My whole stereo is so changing. . . I took all the Decware front end and amplification products out for a while while I wait for the EL34I.2, and I will have new Radials soon, and I'm using a new Sony SACD source (very very nice player, wow) and so I have a lot of "new things" all brewing together at once. Great sound, altogether, that will be in flux for a month or so, but it's fun, I'm enjoying the difference and the transition. I needed one!

I'll write more about these cables in the weeks to come. But initial impressions are very favorable.

Lon, I understand your issues here. Regretfully, my experience with the speaker wires would not relate to your question. You see, I have used them with many different speakers. The horns are relatively new to the mix. The Styx were first used with RL3's and I was not happy with the bass performance. The Radials were replaced with 15" OB's and many others for short periods.

Honest, I am not nuts, just fortunate enough to be in possession of some fairly good speakers (my hobby).

Never for a minute did I think you were nuts! :) I would say the bass performance is the thing that I like least of all about the RL2s, and so I can understand that. I've been experimenting with room placement once again and I have to say that I love this speaker wire, and only wish for a bit more bass presence (the previous speaker wire had it, PS Audio XStream Statement). . . . It will likely arrive with time; their sister interconnects took time to bloom. Also the wires may behave totally differently with the new Radials that will arrive in the future.

* I reinstalled the Decware ZBox, CSP2 and SE34 Monoblocks in the system. Hum is much minimized without the ZCD in the system. Sound is really really good with my new Sony SACD player.

* The Styx sound oh so good with the tube amps and the bass is blossoming. These cables have a wonderful tonal clarity to them. Why didn't I order these long ago? They solve some of my treble problems in one fell swoop. If they heften up just a bit more they'll be like Goldilock's porrige for me. I'm sure they'll be awesome with the E34I.2.

It's been two weeks of heavy use, and I think that these speakers are probably "broken in."

To be honest, I'd love to have more bass. But to also be honest, I think these speakers are giving me what I have, accurately and very congenially. The treble is as good as I have ever heard it in this system. And the midrange is very open and vivid. There's no harshness and no congestion. These are remarkable cables.